News briefs, 3rd Quarter 2014

This page includes brief looks at activities of Explorers Club Washington Group members during the third quarter of 2014 or reported during this quarter. ECWG members want to know what you’re up to, including awards, honors, or news stories. Click here to send in your news.

Explorers Club headquarters notified the ECWG on Sept. 2 that the Club’s Board of Directors approved two new members in the Washington Group’s geographic at its July 31 meeting. They are: Barbara L. Schoeberl, FN 14 and Huan Cui, TM 14.

Sarah Yeomans, FN 07 will give a talk on “Doctors, Diseases and Deities: Epidemic Crises and Medicine in Ancient Rome” on Monday, Oct. 27 at The Explorers Club headquarters, at 46 E 70th Street, New York, N.Y., 10021. A reception begins at 6 p.m. and her lecture at 7 p.m. More information.

Betsy Stewart with her painting at the Odgen Museum

The Odgen Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans has acquired “Bioverse No 3” by Betsy Stewart, MN 05 for its permanent collection.

Kathleen C. Benison, FN’10, published a paper in the international journal Geologyentitled “Could microorganisms be preserved in Mars gypsum? Insights from terrestrial examples” based on field work at Mars-analog acid salars in the high Andes of northern Chile.

The National Geographic published a Web story by John N. Maclean FN 02 about the twin anniversaries in June 2014 of two fatal western wildfires, and how the lessons of the older fire failed to prevent a similar tragic outcome two decades later. Full story.

Sarah Yeomans, FN 07, spent the summer of 2014 doing archeological research in Turkey and Italy. In July she and a group of friends chartered a small ship to identify and survey previously undocumented Greek and Roman sites that can be accessed only by sea. In Rome she spent a month in Rome, researching ancient Roman medicine for her dissertation prospectus research on the Antonine Plague in the 2nd century. Full story.

Arnella Trent, MN 01, spent much of May 2014 helping the State of

A red knot. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service photo

Delaware and the British Trust for Ornithology with banding and monitoring red knots on the Delaware Bay. The data collected will be used for shorebird monitoring and conservation on the bay. Red Knots feed along the shores of Delaware Bay during their migrations between the tip of South America and their Arctic nesting grounds.

Joyce Johnson FN 03 and James Calderwood, Jr FN 04 led an expedition with EC Flag 112 to Tacloban, The Philippines, from July 3-20, 2014.

The purpose of the expedition was to assess changes in the eight months since Typhoon Haiyan, one of the world’s strongest typhoons that ravaged the area on November 8, 2013.

They found much of the storm’s destruction remains, but extraordinary resilience continues among the people. Coincidentally, during the expedition, they also experienced the winds and rain of the first typhoon of the 2014 season, Typhoon Rammasun.

At a ceremony at Clemson University on October 7, 2013, Dr. Lee Talbot, MED 57, received the 2013 Benton H. Box Award for recognition as a teacher “who by precept and example inspires in students the quest for knowledge and encourages curriculum innovation to inculcate an environmental ethic as the rule of conduct.”

Ralph Davidson MED 72, died on August 1, 2014. In addition to being the Chairman of TIME and the Kennedy Center, “he was a loyal member of TEC and ECWG,” says Bruce Blanchard, MN 78. “Unfortunately, he has been confined to home for at least the past 7 or 8 years. He and his wife Lou have been strong supporters of Washington theater for many years.” His obituary ran in the Aug. 3 Washington Post.

Frederick, “Fred,” Ordway, FE ’79, a NASA scientist who was a technical advisor to the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” died on July 1, 2014, at his home in Huntsville, Ala., the New York Times reported on July 14. Mr. Ordway described his role in ensuring the scientific accuracy of “2001: A Space Odyssey” at the ECWG’s Sept. 21, 2013 Cosmos Club dinner.

Norman Cherkis, FN ’91 attended a conference of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO)-Subcommittee on Undersea Feature Names (SCUFN) in Monaco June 16-20, 2014. The organization is under UNESCO auspices, and has a direct connection to the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB). Cherkis has been a member of the GEBCO organization since 1984.

From left: Norman Cherkis, Capt. Robert Ward, Royal Australian Navy (retired) and President of the IHB, and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.

In concert with International Hydrography Day, the IHB held a reception attended by His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco. During the meeting, Cherkis explained the role of GEBCO’s present programs in modern mapping of the seafloor. Prince Albert II’s great grandfather and namesake, HSH Prince Albert I, was instrumental in establishing the first GEBCO in 1903.